Finder crashing, apps quiting, kernel panicing

jyhm

jyhm

Ultra Geek
Ok,

So I posted this question in apple/discussions and I had no real results. I'll try macosx.com/forums because an issue previously unresolved inspight of posting to apple/discussions, was magically explained to me in this post, tar will not pipe | to log file.

The Problem

I have been having problems with apps. quiting and the finder crashing randomly and without any noticable pattern. For example, this morning as I opened Safari to check my posts,.. it took about six times for safari to open because it would unexpectedly quit before I could open a web page!

Other Symptoms

Not only are apps. quitting but the finder will occasionally/periodically relauch and afterwards icons will be undraggable, or even disappear alltogether. The worst is that awfull kernal panic screen, which I try to avoid by periodically using the methods below,..

Methods Used

  • Reset the PRAM
  • Reset the NVRAM
  • Perform fsck
  • Repair Permissions
  • Repair Disk

My System

  • B&W G3 350mhz
  • Mac OSX 10.2.8
  • 896 mb RAM

Please Help, Thanx! :o
 
Have you added any new RAM recently? Have you installed any updates?

Try removing any third-party RAM you've added and run your system that way for a while and see if it helps... even if the RAM has performed well up until this point, you shouldn't rule it out just yet.
 
Well I had to take some chips out in order to install OSX 10.2 and then to install the update combo. I left the original chip that came with it (got this machine on ebay) and I am assuming that it is an original RAM chip. The other 3 RAM chips I also bought on ebay.

Should I get a 256mb chip and test with that? Is crucial.com a quality RAM source? ::alien::
 
Crucial.com is probably the vendor I would trust the most with RAM. Very high quality. Not the most expensive, but not the cheapest, either. Great RAM, period.

I would take out the RAM you think isn't original and just run that way for a while (a few hours or so) and test the results. If it runs ok that way, I would suspect the RAM as the culprit to your crashes.
 
I have been testing each RAM chip. App. crashes occur with all of the chips

My Chips

  • 256mb PC100 RamDirect
  • 256mb PC100 RamDirect
  • 256mb Generic Noname on it
  • 128mb PC100 Hyundai

How do I know if there is a crash due to bad RAM or just because there is low RAM?

Also, is there anywhere online that I can learn how to decipher those crash logs?
 
I had problems with my B&W G3. Same symptoms. I sent it 3 times to Apple during the first year, and after the third time it was perfect. I think they changed the mother board and the CPU.
 
I have heard of actual RAM slots going bad, but never a RAM slot going bad while still being able to "see" the RAM installed in that particular slot. If a RAM slot goes bad, typically, any RAM you stick in that slot won't be "seen" by the computer. Of course, there always a new problem or some anomaly we haven't seen, so it's quite possible there's a motherboard problem -- but let's rule that out last!

As long as you've got 128MB of RAM in the computer, there shouldn't be any problems due to lack of RAM -- the OS takes care of that.

I'm beginning to think this isn't RAM related and could be something in the system got corrupted -- happened to my system once. Boggled me blind until I reinstalled the system on a separate hard drive and everything was a-ok, so I reinstalled on the main hard drive and it worked. I'm not suggesting a reinstall, but if it's something you're up to and have good backups, it may be something to try.
 
I'm not suggesting a reinstall, but if it's something you're up to and have good backups, it may be something to try.
Click to expand...

Yeah, good thing I bought that Pioneer DVR-106! I had a feeling it would come down to this. Ever since I tried Carbon Copy Cloner on my bran new maxtor 60gig drive, I have had problems.

Getting 10.2 on and then in turn installing updates was a nightmare! Finnally I succeded and thought the problem was over because it was so bad that I could not start up with out a kernel panic. However it appears the problem was not totally fixed.

I also agree that the logical next step would be a reinstal. I even ponder if my drive itself has been damaged.

Thanx all for your posts, I'll let you know how it turns out. :)
 
Ah! Carbon Copy Cloner! I had similar kernel panics and other anomalies that didn't show up at first, but my system slowly started showing symptoms like that. It seemed like it took some time for problems to manifest, and once they did, my choice was a clean reinstall.

While I have nothing but faith in CCC for backups and what-not, I may not ever use it again to "clone" one system to another and expect a flawless, bootable transfer simply because the outcome is, in my experience, unreliable. It worked for me in the past, but it has also failed on me -- while I can't specifically trace down my troubles to CCC, it's the lowest common denominator.
 
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